I keep being surprised (and slightly puzzled) that certain foreigners genuinely want to learn Romanian. Obviously it’s good to know how to ask for directions or count numbers but some people I meet want to take it to the next level and actually have a conversation. In my unofficial role as “Dat Engrish Speaker Who Also Speakee Romanian” I hereby present a little lesson on … Continue reading The Many Faces of ING
I had to laugh because although I just formally learned the word imbulzeala (em-boolzy-ala) the other day, visitors and foreign residents in Romania have been asking me about the phenomenon for years. This is a classic Romanian word, constructed from a root word bulz, which means something like “clot” or “clump” or “clod”. As DEX helpfully informs us, when your mamaliga gels into a little … Continue reading WOTD: Imbulzeala
Well yesterday was Easter for Hungarians, Germans and pretty much all the foreigners here in Romania but for the Orthodox church that won’t happen until next Sunday. A useful word to know here in Romania at this time of year is denie (denny-eh) which refers specifically and only to the Orthodox masses held each day during the week before Easter (aka this week right now). … Continue reading Word of the Day: Denie
Well gosh, you know since “forever” almost I’ve been wanting to do this but I never had the computer which could handle it. I have however been writing about it for quite a while now (along with a few short clips that took days to create). Now I finally can put it all together for all of you to see. 24 hours a day, 7 … Continue reading Romania and Romanians on American TV
One of the more fun things you can do in the Romanian language is spontaneously create adjectives from acronyms. One of my favorite is “otevist”, which you won’t find in any dictionary but means “of or relating to OTV” based on the way those letters are pronounced in Romanian (o te vi + st). OTV is short for Oglinda TV or “Mirror” television. It is … Continue reading Word of the Day: Otevist
All Things Romania 